I was curious about the popularity of the three different sports. So, I grabbed the first 100 results and created a few charts. Ages, Sports, and what the OP is researching Sports Per Age. The ages are well represented from 17-60, so the Sports/Age is very fragmented, but the popularity of sports is very well defined. And many of the posts on BT support the chart.

I was curious about the popularity of the three different sports. So, I grabbed the first 100 results and created a few charts. Ages, Sports, and what the OP is researching Sports Per Age. The ages are well represented from 17-60, so the Sports/Age is very fragmented, but the popularity of sports is very well defined. And many of the posts on BT support the chart.

What I can't fathom is why favorite sport would be connected to age. I'd guess it's much more a matter of personal preference and probably one's background in the sports. Favorite sport(s) are either the one(s) we started first and have a strong background in, or possibly one we discovered more recently and have fallen in love with. Last favorite would usually be those we find difficult, often one we picked up when/because of starting tri. For many coming from a run/bike background, that's swimming, which is harder to master as an adult. For me personally, it's biking.

Possibly a slight bias away from running with the oldest age groups if there are injury concerns, but it might still be a favorite for a long-time runner even if they can't/don't run as much as they used to. You can play with the stats and might find some weak correlations (I'd be surprised if, in a big sample, they were statistically significant) but I really don't see any causation here. Possibly you might find some gender differences within the age groups due to the effect of Title 9, etc,

I'm interested to see the results of your analysis once complete. An interesting secondary question would be whether each person's answer is what it would have been five years ago, 10 years ago or when they first started triathlon...

My favorite wouldn't change but swimming is now neck and neck with the run (for 2nd place, the first loser...) however for years the swim was a very distant third ... Hard work, no longer fearing the washing machine starts, improved times etc., has turned swimming into something I look forward to...

I'm guessing others have stories associated with their 1-3 ranking as well...

I just started half a year ago. Couldn't swim (learned it off some TI videos on youtube), had never biked for training (last bike owned was as a kid) and just finished a half marathon at 2.23h which quite well defined my shape.
Now after half a year of very dedicated training, I am one week away from my first HIM and if I look at my training times and assumed race pace with added fatigue, my best part will probably be the swim - compared to cut off time... It is also the part I am most comfortable with - but that could be because it comes first so I know I will be fresh. My worst is biking by far, I struggle to keep close to 30kph, but at that pace I can't run after, so hope I can finish with an avg of about 24-25kph.